Our City, Our People

Top five vote-getters, as chosen by Artvoice readers, listed in no particular order. Winners will be announced at the Best of Buffalo Party, Monday, May 14, 6pm, at the Town Ballroom

Best Activist Group

Occupy Buffalo

Animal Allies of WNY

PUSH Buffalo

OUTspoken for Equality

Buffalo First!

Best Individual Activist

Morgan Dunbar

Aaron Bartley

Kitty Lambert-Rudd

Kevin Gaughan

Terry Perdue

Best Twitter Feed

@buffalopundit

@lindyruffstie

@fakedarcy

@jeremywgr

@lovinonbuffalo

Best Blog

Buffablog

The Good Neighborhood

Buffalo Eats

Buffalo Rising

AV Daily

Best Print Journalist

Jerry Sullivan

Colin Dabkowski

Jeff Miers

Geoff Kelly

Donn Esmonde

Best Radio Personalities

Shredd & Ragan, 103.3 The Edge

Chris “Bulldog” Parker, WGR 550

Janet Snyder, Kiss 98.5

Sandy Beach, WBEN 930

Howard Simon, WGR 550

Best TV Personality

Maryalice Demler, WGRZ

Kevin O’Neill, WGRZ

Don Paul, WIVB

Linda Pellegrino, WKBW

Jody Johnston, WGRZ

Buffalo’s Biggest Booster

Drew Cerza

Terry Pegula

Brian Higgins

Jim Kelly

Newell Nussbaumer

Best Annual Festival

Allentown Art Festival

Taste of Buffalo

Elmwood Festival of the Arts

Music Is Art

Italian Heritage Festival

Best Annual Fundraiser

MASH Bash

Buffalo Zombie Walk & Pub Crawl

Ride for Roswell

Variety Kids Telethon

Give for Greatness

Editor's Pick: Department of Misdirected Voting Award

Overwhelmingly, our readers indicated that the best new idea they’d heard about this year for Western New York was redevelopment of the city’s waterfront. You’ll note that the response did not make the top 5, because it was disqualified: Redeveloping the city’s waterfront is not a new idea at all. Indeed, the waterfront is what gave birth to this city in the first place, and it has been a focus of the regional imagination ever since.

- geoff kelly

Best New Idea for WNY

Move Bills stadium downtown

Move the Explore & More museum to the waterfront

Illuminating and/or projecting movies and images on the grain elevators

Adults-only restaurants

High-speed rail

Best Bike Ride

Delaware Park

Riverwalk from downtown Buffalo to the Tonawandas

Amherst Bike Path

Chestnut Ridge

Outer Harbor Bike Trail

Best People Watching Spot

Delaware Park

Allentown

SPoT Coffee on Elmwood Avenue

Anywhere on Elmwood Avenue

The Galleria Mall

Editor's Pick: Best People-watching Spot: Caffe Aroma

As far as people-watching spots go, Buffalo’s longest running locally owned coffee shop, Caffe Aroma (957 Elmwood Avenue) has the trifecta of attributes: location, tables in eavesdropping proximity, and a patio for the warmer months. However, Caffe Aroma has one secret ingredient that helps it stand out from the other people-watching locations: a liquor license. A generous glass of wine or a frosty bottle of beer is the appropriate social lubricant to get your eye wandering as the parade of Elmwood Village inhabitants and visitors stroll by.

- jill greenberg

Best Picnic Spot

Chestnut Ridge

Erie Basin Marina

Bidwell Parkway

Niawanda Park

Delaware Park

Best Place to View Lake Erie

From the top of City Hall

From the Skyway

Sunset Bay

Erie Basin Marina

Hamburg Beach

Biggest Scandal of the Year

Mark Grisanti and his wife get into a fight at the Seneca Niagara Casino

The state of Buffalo’s public schools

Revelations at Niagara County SPCA

Occupy Buffalo kicked out of Niagara Square

Byron Brown is still Buffalo’s mayor

Buffalo’s Biggest Naysayer

Tom Brady

Carl Paladino

Jerry Sullivan

Byron Brown

Anderson Cooper

Most Overcovered Story

Cars driving into buildings

Occupy Buffalo

Anything having to do with the Sabres

Mario Williams signs with the Bills

Anything else having to do with the Bills

Must Undercovered Story

Hydrofracking

Occupy Buffalo

Corruption in Buffalo mayor’s office

The woes of Buffalo public schools

What’s Mark Poloncarz up to?

Politician Who Should Lose His Job This Year

Pat Gallivan

Andrew Cuomo

Barack Obama

Byron Brown

All of them

Person Who Ought to Take His Place

Anyone else

Carl Paladino

Cynthia Appleton

Chris Collins

Newell Nussbaumer

One Thing You Hope Will Happen

More waterfront development

More and better jobs come here

Sabres win the Stanley Cup

Bills make the playoffs

Bills win the Super Bowl

Editor's Pick: Best Place to Take Tourists - Downtown Buffalo

That’s right, you read correctly, the best place to take tourists is the ghostly quiet, boarded-up-storefront-ridden, nearly abandoned downtown area. On first thought this area may seem like a place to avoid, but when you consider the pockets of activity and emerging new businesses and restaurants, downtown Buffalo can actually be a perfect place to show guests a good time. The Theater District has its own unique charm and is home to the awe-inspiring Shea’s Performing Arts Center (646 Main Street), which can be toured Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays (during non-show days) at 10am and 1pm. Also on Main Street is the locally owned City Wine Merchant (715 Main Street), which has a wide selection of handpicked wines. Down near the First Niagara Center on a charming cobblestone street is the middle European style restaurant, stube, and deli, Lagerhaus 95 (95 Perry Street). Lagerhaus 95 offers contemporary gastro pub fare and an extensive wine and beer list. You can also follow the popular food truck Lloyd Taco Truck (@whereslloyd) and the newly opened Cheesy Chick (@thecheesychick) grilled cheese food truck on Twitter to catch them at the First Niagara Center. If your visitors are in Buffalo during the week you can take them to the heart of downtown to the City Hall observation deck. Being the third tallest building in the city, it provides views of the city, Lake Erie, and the Niagara River.